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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Leaky roof and credit cards..

Judging by all the facebook comments about Abby's post...I'm thinking I should have her as a guest writer more often!

There are not many free samples out there right now. I'm thinking it's because companies are focusing more on the upcoming holiday shopping season. Even the credit card companies are involved. I have two cards right now besides my debit (I suppose it goes without saying that I pay them off each month, but I'm saying it anyway). I've been planning to cancel my Bank of America Mastercard, but they keep sending out good deals. From now until 12/31 I can get 20% cash back on Fandango, Netflix, Carrabbas, Subway, Outback and Barnes and Noble. Not too shabby. Obviously I won't buy things I wouldn't normally get, but B&N is a big shop for me at Christmas. They also just sent a card saying I'll get $10 back for making two Shell gas purchases (totalling $60...how hard is that??) and also a card for $10 back on any $10 purchase at Kohls...that's a FREEBIE! So, guess I'll hold on til after the new year.

My newest (and soon to be only) card is a AAdvantage Visa to earn airline miles. I signed up for a really good promo and basically earned enough points in the first 2 months to get TWO FREE TICKETS TO EUROPE!!! How awesome is that? So, I think that was worth it since they waive the fee for the first year. I'll let you kow if I get burned.

On another note, Mike and I had a new roof put on 5 years ago. The roof wasn't leaking, but it was 25+ years old and we had a big windstorm that blew off a bunch of shingles. To prevent leaks--and knowing that a new roof was inevitable--we started pricing. We got a fairly good deal and put on 30 year architectural shingles. Within a year we had two leaks in different areas. We called them and they came over immediately, threw some tar one it and said we should be fine. They had pounded nails right through the outside shingles!! My husband has helped his Dad build a few houses. He was NOT happy. 6 months later we had another leak. We figured out where it was on our own by crawling under the eaves and spraying water on with a hose. Mike fixed that one. Now, a year later, there is an area of paint falling off the living room ceiling. Mike went up today to check it out. 5 NAILS through the roof. He took pictures of them all and patched it. We haven't yet called them back. So what would you do? Demand a refund? New roof? Partial refund? Report to BBB? It's very frustrarting because we had NO leaks before the new roof. Ahhh, home ownership!

Going to serve at a dinner for foster families tonight...early Thanksgiving...yummm!

Definitely contact them and DON'T take NO for an answer...expect them to replace it...isn't that what a 30 yr guarantee means? Better read the fine print but I caution you to act quickly...remember Rodney Skinner from IWU? From a leaking roof on a parsonage, he and his family are very ill due to black mold. Rodney has had 3" of his colon removed, short term memory is gone, no longer preaches; Ginelle has memory loss, no longer teaches, the baby she was carrying at the time has severe medical issues, the oldest daughter had to learn to talk again and I don't remember the middle daugher's medical issues but ALL of them have MANY health issues. I haven't talked with Rodney's Mom lately but that's the last I heard. The roofers failed to put the "valley" by the chimney back on the roof and all the moisture caused the mold...very toxic. Once it was determined what the problem was, they had to leave their home w/only the clothes on their back. A couple of years ago when I talked with Charlene (his Mom) the last test of toxicity in the MIDDLE of the house was 75% and they still couldn't remove any of their belongings. Act quickly is my only advice...